Plankton - Marine Biology,Scientific Paper
Construction of a food web based on the species located in the Clyde Sea. Introduction We will be sampling the waters of the Clyde Sea to attempt to create a food web of the plankton recorded. We will examine the relationship between key species and inorganic and organic mater found in the waters. The diversity of plankton in the Clyde Sea is immense. We will only select a few species to create our food web, as creating a food web for the entire recorded species will be next to impossible for us. The Clyde Sea is situated on the South West coast of Scotland and is surrounded by the Shetland Islands mainland Scotland. The land masses that surround the Clyde sea offers great protection from strong prevailing winds and other whether fronts from the Atlantic to the wildlife located in the sea. Materials and methods Water samples were taken form the Clyde Sea using Zooplankton nets. We had a range of different mesh sizes. The first was a course net: 710?m. The second was a medium mesh: 335?m. The third was a fine mesh: 142?m and the last was a very fine mesh size: 90?m. These different mesh sizes would hopefully catch a range of plankton from Mesozooplankton to Picoplankton. The water samples would be taken back to the lab where we would attempt to identify the individuals to species level. To do this we would use different microscopes, depending on the size of organism and